The gingerbread phone

Google has launched a brand new phone: Samsung-built Nexus S, the first device to run Android version 2.3, codenamed “Gingerbread”. It seems to be the year of buzzwords for fancy displays. After the iPhone’s “retina” screen, we have the Nexus S’ “contour” display. It sports a 1 Ghz processor and a 5 megapixel camera, and will be available by the end of the year in the US. Other features include.... wait, stop right there. We know what you’re thinking. Everytime a new phone comes out of the Android or Windows 7 stable, the whispers are always the same: “Is this the iPhone killer?”

The question is moot. Android’s gone way beyond trying to take on the iPhone, proliferating like a virus to over 100 devices in price points ranging fromRs7,000 (Micromax A60) to Rs38,000 (Samsung Galaxy Tab). The Nexus S could be an attempt to create a “flagship” Android experience (the tag line for the phone is “Pure Google”), an attempt at which its predecessor, the Nexus One, failed.